Tuesday January 24, 2006 Singapore ET Li's latest movie, Fearless, has become the first he sui pian (Chinese New Year movie) here to be given an NC-16 rating. According to its distributor, Buena Vista International (BVI), the martial arts film, which opens on 26 Jan, was deemed too violent by the censors. A BVI spokesman told The New Paper: 'We were not expecting such a rating as Fearless actually has a positive message for teenagers - that violence is not the key to solving problems. We thought it would get a PG rating.' Fearless tells the story of martial arts master Huo Yuan Jia, who led his countrymen against foreign aggressors who plagued Shanghai in the 1900s. Director Ronnie Yu and Jet had been inspired to turn Huo's story into a movie after learning about the high suicide rate among the youth in China. Ronnie said: 'I felt that with the troubling number of disaffected youth in China today and with the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008, now was a good time to examine the concept of sportsmanship. 'It is a martial arts film about the futility of violence... I want young people to come out of the theatre feeling seven feet tall, not because they've just seen someone beat somebody up, but because they have just seen someone refrain from killing.' To further drive the message home to the target audience, Taiwanese singer Jay Chou was roped in to sing the theme song. But now it seems teens here will only get to watch Fearless the music video and not the movie. BVI is worried that the NC-16 rating might affect box office takings especially since it's up against Jack Neo's PG-rated I Not Stupid Too. The spokesman said: 'Going to the movies is usually a family affair during Chinese New Year. But families with kids won't be able to catch Fearless.' asianfanatics.net
